ACC has new approach...invite Virginia Tech

[gister]

What does that do to everything, if this is true?

Here is the link:

http://cbs.sportsline.com/general/story/6437389

[kshoe]

What was unclear about the article was whether V-Tech would be taken instead of BC or Syracuse or in addition to the 3 other schools for a 13 team ACC. But lets say its the latter and 4 teams are now leaving the Big East. I think that would mean the end of the Big East and the basketball only schools would go their own way, hopefully looking to the Midwest to form a 12 team b-ball only conference.

I think if the ACC votes against expansion or just takes Miami we are screwed because the Big East will try to stay together by adding Louisville and Marquette, the heart of CUSA basketball. IMO we are better off with the complete demise of the Big East which will make the East Coast basketball schools in need of not just one Midwest b-ball school but a whole division of us.

[jjray]

If 4 Big East schools go to the ACC, I think the BE is done as a BCS football conference; however, that might not mean they are done as a conference. I suspect they would try resurrect themselves as conference focusing on basketball (with their conference tourney at MSG) but also keep enough football teams to have a football conference that is a notch down from BCS status. The question in my mind is whether they are forced to make the choice between football and basketball.

Would Cincy and Louisville go to a Big East diluted to such an extent? Under this senario, we should expect the Big East to try and form a western conference for basketball. ND, Cincy, Louisville being the core ... Memphis? ... Xavier and Dayton? ... Marquette and DePaul? ... SLU????

Xavier is in Cincy and Dayton is a small market team (i.e., whether the BE would care what Cincy says is a question; however, I know they don't want to be in the same conference with Xavier and Dayton). To get the best TV footprint for the conference, I would not be surprised to see a proposed Big East basketball western conference (after 4 teams bolt from the BE to the ACC) to look like this:

ND

Cincy

Louisville

Marquette

DePaul

SLU

SLU is definitely a bubble team in this shuffle should it play out this way (our best cards being larger TV market, new basketball on campus arena, solid BBall attendance record, and powerhouse in soccer). There was an article a few days ago about the BE desiring to expand beyond 12 teams so maybe there is room in a BE western conference for more teams than 6.

[kwyjibo]

The article was very clear that this is a proposal for the ACC to add 4 teams. This is because of the political situation in Virginia and the fact that 3 votes by current ACC schools against will kill the deal.

North Carolina has been consistently against expansion. Virginia is against expansion generally and are under political pressure (as a public school) that they must hold out for the inclusion of Va Tech. Duke has been waffling but I think they must have indicated that they would only vote for a Miami expansion (thus making it necessary to appease Virginia with the inclusion of Va Tech).

This would make the ACC a huge player in BCS but ridiculous in the rest of the sports as well.

[cheeseman]

I agree, the more the Big East erodes, the better it is for SLU. The real problem is the longer this indecision goes on, the more damage we could sustain.

[jjray]

The latest is that if the ACC has to go to 13 teams to get the necessary votes for expansion that they might just go one step further and make it 14 so that there will be two even 7 team divisions.

http://espn.go.com/ncaa/news/2003/0618/1570063.html

Somebody said the more the BE gets eviscerated, the more it helps us. If Connecticut goes to the ACC with the other teams, then I really think SLU's chances in the reshuffle improve. At that point, the BE is really not any more powerful than CUSA (in football and maybe less so in less so in basketball) and CUSA teams have more leverage. It would be interesting.

[kwyjibo]

Yep. It is an interesting way to deal with the lawsuit. Bribe the plaintiffs. They must have Shalala doing something shady on tape.

[billiken_roy]

what i dont necessarily agree with is the presumption that the big east will call the shots. heck, the big east is being b!tch slapped all over the place by the acc, what makes everyone so sure they will call the shots down the line?

i think it is just as possible that conference usa is proactive and also could raid the big east accordingly to get what they want and convince louisville and cincy this is the place to be.

[davidnark]

I cannot imagine the five basketball-only Big East schools joining CUSA in its current format. It would create an even worse version of the current bad situation these Big East schools face--i.e., it would create a bad mixture of football-focused and basketball-focused schools with little historical or geographical rivalries.

Either Marquette, Xavier, Cincy, and Louisville bolt to the Big East or a new catholic conference will be formed. I don't see any other scenario playing out.

[billiken_roy]

i still think the best case scenario is some kind of merger with the big east. i.e. the two conferences combine to make two new conferences that fit both needs, basketball and football. if this is done, it might alliviate some of the problems associated with creating a new conference such as exit and entry fees, no automatic bids, etc.

[cheeseman]

I think the point Roy is making is that CUSA could form two divisions - one for football and one for basketball only schools by raiding the Big East. The basketball schedule would be awfully unwieldly but better than find ourself in a lessor conference. It is an interesting idea. My only concern is that the Big East teams would have a hard time swallowing being second fiddle int he decision making process.

[kwyjibo]

The ACC plan this weekend evolved a bit. Duke and North Carolina want no part of major expansion (it has been guessed that Duke would be in favor of just Miami). Virginia needs Va Tech to be part of the mix. They did the math and 13 was too awkward (14 likely rejected as too small a per team share) and are now thinking about 3 team expansion with Miami, Va Tech, and BC -OR- Syracuse.

3 team expansion probably keeps the Billikens out of the Bigger East scenarios. They can pick and choose football and non-football teams from the C-USA, A-10 (if BC goes to ACC, UMass is in the mix) and maybe MAC to get to their proposed monster. It should be worrisome that Louisville, Marquette, and some other C-USA football teams are in that mix.

And yes the Big East (despite their "slapping") is in a much better position for inviting teams because they still can negotiate (and have negotiated) much better TV deals than C-USA. And there is no serious talk about a "Catholic" league (although the possibility of a basketball conference remains if the Bigger East cannot come together or the C-USA is too badly damaged by other conference expansions).